Goa may ban VVIP bodyguards after Nitesh Rane’s vandalism

Panaji – Goa may ban private bodyguards accompanying VVIPs, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said Wednesday, a day after Maharashtra Minister Narayan Rane’s son Nitesh and eight of his entourage were arrested for smashing a toll booth and assaulting toll operators.

Parrikar told reporters that Narayan Rane called him afte! r his son’s arrest, and that he took an assurance from the Maharashtra politician that vehicles from Goa will not be vandalised by his supporters.

“We may have to stop private bodyguards from coming with VVIPs. Police bodyguards are fine but private ones will not be allowed. They were the ones who actually did the damage at the toll booth,” Parrikar said.

On Tuesday, Nitesh, who was travelling to Goa with his entourage, was asked to pay entry toll at a booth. Enraged, Nitesh’s supporters assaulted three toll operators and vandalised the toll booth at Dhargal village on the Goa-Maharashtra border.

Nitesh, who was one of the nine people arrested, was released early Wednesday on conditional bail.

Parrikar denied that Goa Police soft-pedalled the case because of the involvement of a high-profile politician’s son, but confessed that Narayan Rane did call him after hearing about his son’s arrest.

“He said ‘please look into it’. I told him that h! e will have to move in a legal way because it was a crime-related issue,” Parrikar told a press conference.

Parrikar also said he had taken an assurance from Rane that vehicles registered in Goa passing through his stronghold of Konkan region in Maharashtra would not be harmed by Nitesh’s supporters, who have in the past resorted to strong-arm tactics.

Rane’s assurance comes at a time when media reports said five people allegedly belonging to Nitesh Rane’s NGO Swaabhiman were arrested for vandalising Goa-bound overnight buses in Borivali, near Mumbai, earlier in the day.